I’ve been delinquent in my blogging. Here’s an update for the past several days…. still at Newport Yacht Club & Marina in Jersey City (across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan).

Friday, August 4 – Day 35

Ed & I had a quiet day in the marina. I washed the boat & Ed explored the neighborhood. After that we went over to the shopping mall across the street from the marina. The place was huge, with 4 major department stores plus dozens of franchise stores & a huge food court. This place would easily rival some of the biggest malls in Toronto.

The mall had a multi-screen movie theatre so we went to see a matinee of the new movie “Dunkirk” & then Ed took me out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant that was also in the mall. We each had a slice o the key lime cheesecake for dessert & it was awesome!

Ed was supposed to fly home Sunday morning but for some unknown reason Porter Airlines cancelled his flight on Sunday morning to Toronto & rescheduled him for Monday morning. That was unacceptable so we spent over an hour on hold with the airline until we finally got an agent & managed to get him on a flight the next morning (Saturday) but that was not to be. Read on….

Saturday, August 5, Day 36

We got up at 3:30am so Ed could take an Uber to Newark airport for a flight home departing at 6:50am. I checked my email as soon as I got up & saw an email from Porter Airlines informing Ed that his flight had been cancelled & rescheduled to Monday morning. This was no good so we ultimately gave up on Porter & booked a flight for Sunday afternoon on Westjet from LaGuardia Airport. What a mess!

We finally went back to bed around 5:00am & slept until 10:00am.

We had a light lunch & then I walked over to a nearby grocery store & got some groceries for supper & breakfast the next morning. Ed did his laundry & chilled on the boat.

The marina Dockmaster asked us to move a few feet down the dock to accommodate another boat so we relocated without starting the engine. Our boat was still the “lead dog” in the pack! We may be the smallest but we were still in front of the rest! Note the size symmetry.

We BBQ’d steaks for supper & turned in early in anticipation of flights coming & going as scheduled the next day.

Sunday, August 6, Day 37

I decided to do laundry early in the morning before Catherine arrived. Oh, the cruising life is so exciting & exotic!

I finished up the laundry just before noon & then it was time for Ed to take an Uber to LaGuardia for his flight home. An hour later I was in an Uber to Newark Airport to meet Catherine.

She arrived at 5:00 & we took another Uber back to the marina. It has been over a month since I last saw her so it was a great reunion.

The weather was great for her arrival & the boat passed it’s initial inspection.

Even the moon was coming out full for Catherine’s arrival.

Cheers!

40°43′34″ N 74°2′4″ W

Aug 3 – Newport Yacht Club – Jersey City

The next segment of our journey to the marina in New York City was relatively short – only 20 nm (about 3 hours travel time). We decided not to cast off until 10:30 in the morning because the next marina did not want us to arrive before 1:00pm.

I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of entering New York Harbor in the middle of the day, but Ed suggested “we cruise in like we owned the place” & I agreed that was a good strategy.

As we got closer to the Statue of Liberty we started encountering a lot of passenger ferries, tourist sightseeing boats & tugboats pushing barges. It was a bit hectic but the harbor is huge so there was lots of room for everyone.

Ed looked after the helm & I kept watch on our sides & behind us.

It was very exciting to sail past the Statue of Liberty.

There were also several boats (really) sailing in the harbor – now that takes some nerve….

We arrived at our marina at about 1:00pm. Unfortunately the marina was a total disaster! One quarter of the docks were missing, one quarter were sunken & the rest were rotting!

On top of all that, the marina had no breakwater so the docks (& the boats tied to them) were rocking back & forth like crazy. The motion of our boat was worse than what we had endured during the wind & rainstorm a few days before in Chesapeake Beach, MD!

I tried to contact the marina manager but all I got was her voicemail. I finally managed to reach the booking agency for the marina & convinced them to refund my credit card payment for 4 days of dock fees.

Bye, bye bad marina. I have stayed at a lot of marinas over the past month & this one was the absolute worst. I certainly did not want a horrible place like this to be Catherine’s introduction to our “new” boat.

Thankfully I managed to secure a dock at another nearby marina so we headed back down the Hudson River towards the Statue of Liberty.

The new marina we are at is in an awesome location with lots of restaurants & shopping across the street.

The screenshot below shows our location.

Our nearest neighbor is pretty cool too!

It had been a long & trying day & we had nothing to eat since our light breakfast 8 hours before so we dressed up as best we could & headed to a nearby pub/restaurant.

This place had cold beer & great food. The pub had a bit of an Irish theme & a sign on the wall in the bar caught my eye…

After supper we headed back to the boat for a well deserved rest & to hit the showers.

The skyline of New York City on the other side of the Hudson is pretty impressive at night too!

Tomorrow (August 4) we will explore Jersey City & reprovision the boat as the fridge & the pantry are looking pretty bare.

Cheers!

40°32′45″ N 74°8′34″ W

Aug 2 – Mansion Marina, NJ

We arrived at the Mansion Marina on August 2 at 3:00pm. The passage up from Barnegat Bay was pretty easy as the wind was on our stern & there was only a gentle swell on the water.

The photo above shows the Barnegat Light at the entrance to the bay – as we are headed back towards the ocean.

It’s a tricky entrance because the outer walls of the breakwater are submerged & generate breakers in the channel. This makes the water rough & does not allow any room for mistakes or you could end up on the rocks.

As we rounded Sandy Hook the sky ahead of us was darkening & we could hear thunder. We were still about 45 minutes from the marina so we started closing windows, etc. in anticipation of rain. The VHF radio also started to broadcast severe weather alerts for heavy rain & possible hail. Fortunately for us we made it into the marina before the storm hit & all we got in our area was a gentle, steady rain for a few hours.

The marina in Great Kills Harbor was ok but it did not have any amenities other than a single bathroom so we decided to leave a day early & head for New York. I found a marina that was across the Hudson River from NYC & fairly close to Newark Airport for our crew change on Sunday.

Cheers!

39°46′1″ N 74°6′20″ W

Aug 1 – Barnegat Bay NJ

We arrived at Barnegat Bay at 5:00pm yesterday afternoon. Originally we had planned on stopping in Atlantic City but we would have been there by 1:00pm & have given up several hours of good traveling time – so we continued on for another 4 hours….

The weather this week has been ideal for ocean shoreline passages. The winds are light & waves are less than 2 feet. However, the forecast shows the weather deteriorating by Friday this week so our goal is to get to NYC as quickly as possible so we don’t have to be concerned about ocean weather & wave conditions any longer.

We left Barnegat Bay at 6:30am this morning (photo above) & are headed to a harbor that is just “below” NYC harbor (screenshot below).

We will spend 2 days at a marina there & then move to another marina in Newark NJ that is very close to the Newark airport.

Sunday is crew change day. Ed flys home & Catherine (aka “the Admiral”) flys in to take Ed’s place.

With this crew change I’ll really have to clean up my act! No more wearing the same shirt for 3 or 4 days in a row & the Spam has to go overboard. On the positive side, I’m really looking forward to seeing Catherine again & sharing the next segment of the journey home with her.

I flew down to Jacksonville FL on June 30 & have not seen her since then. So it will be a big reunion in the Big Apple & cruising up the Hudson River will be fantastic!

The screenshot above shows our current position as I am writing this blog posting. Our chart plotter says that we are about 68 nm from our destination & will arrive there in about 9-10 hours. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from years of sailing (& now trawling) it’s that patience is key to remaining sane. Enjoy the slower pace & make the most of it.

At our rate of speed the boat burns about 1.5 Imperial gallons an hour. That translates into about 13 miles per gallon. The other day I was talking to a fellow in a marina & was asking him about travel times & distances between that marina & the next one I wanted to go to. He said he had been at my next destination several times on his boat but that he travelled at 20+ knots (a lot faster that I can), so we were trying to “convert” the travel time to be relevant to my boat. During our conversation he asked me about my rate of fuel burn & then replied that his boat, a big Sport Fisher, burned about 120 gallons an hour at optimum cruising speed! So, going slow can be rewarding in more than one way – especially for a thrifty Scotsman like me!

Cheers!

38.9515° N, 74.9067° W

July 31 – Utch’s Marina Cape May, NJ

We arrived at Cape May at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. We made great time on this passage as the water was calm & we had lucky timing with the tide cycles.

We met several barges & freighters during our passage down the Delaware River & across the bay. Once we reached the Cape May Canal we met a car/passenger ferry that was headed across the bay to Maryland.

Cape May has several large marinas & is a hotspot for sport fishing on the ocean. We couldn’t believe how many boats there were – and this is only one of several marinas!

Last night Ed & I discussed our route north to NYC. We are now only 125 nm from Sandy Hook, NJ which is at the mouth of the Hudson River and New York City.

The route along the New Jersey ICW looked interesting but there are several places where shallow water could be a problem for even this boat with only a 3 1/2 foot draft.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week looks very promising with light winds & calm waters predicted for the New Jersey coastline so we decided that our next passage would be a few miles offshore on the ocean & then we would head inland to Atlantic City NJ which is about 40 nm north of Cape May.

We have also noted several spots along the way where we could head inland if the weather & water conditions turn bad on us.

As you can see in the photo above, things are looking pretty good at the moment (8:30am August 1).

Shortly after we got out of Cape May Harbor this morning & started heading north we passed by an area called Wildwood that had lots of high rise hotels & apartments on the shoreline. There even was a large amusement park with a roller coaster which I’m sure Emily would have liked to spend a few hours on.

Cheers!